ABSTRACT
In terms of specific recorded instances of asylum, this chapter begins with a failed coup at Athens in 632 BC. The leader of the rebellion, Cylon, along with some of his allies, sought refuge in the Temple of Athena on the Acropolis. On becoming archon, Solon instituted an amnesty for all Athenian refugees. Following Solon, the stories of refuge and asylum fall into two main categories, both of which are governed by principles of political solidarity. First, the accommodation of fellow citizens or those from allied states in wartime; the reception in Athens of those from the Attican countryside fleeing the advancing Spartan army at the beginning of the Peloponnesian War is one such example. The second type of refugee was the political or military leader who had fallen out of favour among his own people, and who had therefore fled to another city-state for safety. The restrictiveness of the Justinian Code is evidenced by problems in Byzantium regarding asylum.
